Leaks

[slopjocky]

We moved into this house in June, never thought to check the heating system at the time(bad move i know).
The hall and lounge radiators leak at the valves and the valves in the bathroom rad are seized.
Could this be the cause for the lack of heat in the bedroom rads? They warm up but dont get hot, the bottom of both rads are cold and the pump sounds like there is sand in it.
We are going to drain the system this weekend and clean out the rads, just wondered if there is anything else we should be on the look out for.
Thanks in advance.

 

[plumbob]

Slopjockey,
If your pump sounds that bad throw it away.
You are looking for sludge in the system, black and really smelly.
Flush the whole system using sludge remover.
Refill adding fernox inhibitor.
Put the rads back on using fernox LSX silicone type paste to seal joints as it is flexible and water speeds up the cure time.
Make sure you get a pump good enough for your system output.
Your system also sound like it has air in.
Make sure to bleed all of the air out of rads.............a bucket full of water if necessary.

 

[oilman]

This sounds like one of the cases for powerflushing. You can hire a pump to do it. If you don't use this method, then you probably need to take the radiators off the wall after draining the system, and wash them through with a hosepipe. Beware there will be enough smelly water left in them to spill on the floor when you have drained the system so put plenty of covering down.

Expect to uncover some leaks you don't yet know about, just a fact of life I'm afraid. when you've cleaned everything, and put most of it back together, just before you replace the pump, add a strainer (two if necessary). One before the boiler in the return line, and one before the pump if the pump is on the flow, don't forget the service valves each side of the strainer, or you'll have to drain the system to clean the strainer.

 

[slopjocky]

We have drained the system and replaced the seized valves.Due to the weather we are going to leave the messy stages till the summer.
The pump is now quiet, which i assume is because we got rid of the air.
No more leaks were detected thankfully, and we now have a warm house.
Thanks for the advice.